Pinecone's past life

One of the coolest things about ex racehorses is that if you do a little digging you can catch a glimpse into their history as a racehorse. This website offers past performance, pedigrees and sometimes race replay videos of horses. They also has some awesome information about all things race related, from a glossary, to race comments, fractional times etc. You can really learn a lot about racing there.


I have been extremely lucky in my search for Pinecone’s history. I’ve been able to find out the history of his name and I’ve also gotten some of his win pictures. I had managed to find one of his trainers on facebook and sent her an email. I half expected her to never respond and I other half expected her to yell at me for bothering her. She was super nice and said she was extremely happy that he’d found a good home. She has no control over what happens to them after they leave her barn and she often worries. Her mom had a few of Piney’s win pictures so she got in contact with me and emailed them to me. I’ve been in touch with her a few times keeping her updated on how he is doing. She was thrilled to hear it and told me it made her day to hear how great he is doing.

I’d also managed to find the farm where Piney was born and raised. The place looks awesome! If I was a horse I’d want to live there! They had a “contact us” link to an email so I decided to just send a brief email never expecting to hear back. I told them that I had adopted a horse that had been owned by the owners of the ranch, and that he was amazing. I also commented on how beautiful their place was and a few other little things. It was a few weeks ago so I just figured the email had been read then deleted. It shocked the hell out of me when I got an email from the owner on Friday. He told me that Pine Bend was named after the oil refinery in Minnesota that a close friend of his owned. One of Piney’s win pictures still hangs in the president’s office to this day. He also thought it was fitting that he ended up in Minnesota since he was named after a place in Minnesota. He also said that if I’m ever in Arizona that they’d love to have me out to the ranch for a visit. He also told me to keep them informed on how he’s doing as he was one of their favorite horses. How cool is that? I’m so grateful that people in Piney’s past have been so kind to me. And no doubt they were very kind to him as he is the sweetest horse I’ve ever met!

Pine Bend Refinery, Piney's namesake